Evaluating Fare Structure with Best–Worst Method for Improving Sustainable Transit Operations: Istanbul Metro Example

Abstract

Public transportation (PT) is key to breaking the vicious cycle of private vehicles, a critical sustainability challenge in developing countries. The increase in population raises the number of private cars, and this trend continues. PT plays a vital role in reducing car use, traffic congestion, and environmental pollution. Fare is crucial to the system’s ability to encourage passengers to use PT. It affects mobility, the quality of life, and the sustainability of the system. This study aims to examine Istanbul’s optimal fare system using the BWM (Best–Worst Method) for PT fare for the first time. Furthermore, it is the first study to compare fare structures and criteria for Istanbul, Europe’s second-largest city, where transportation affects quality of life. The most frequently used fare structures and criteria in the literature and practice were weighted by experts using BWM surveys for the Istanbul Metro. The results show that distance-based fare (DBF) (43.7%) is the best fare structure, while flat fare (FF) (12.2%) is the weakest. For the criteria weightings, benefit received (24.4%) and social equity (22.7%) are seen as superior. Finally, the impact of the criterion on the fare structure was demonstrated through analysis, and its importance for experts in evaluating PT was highlighted.